Former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond has announced his candidacy to run for Westminster in the Gordon seat.

Speaking in Ellon to a meeting of his local party he said:

"Almost twelve weeks ago I stepped down as First Minister. I said that I believed that Scotland could still emerge as a winner from the referendum process.

“It is now clear what we have to do as a country in order to secure that progress; the progress which we were promised.

"It is incumbent on all of us to step up to the plate – to match the spirit being shown by the people. Therefore I can tell the constituency today that I am a candidate for the SNP nomination for Gordon.”

Concerns had been raised that council chiefs in Scotland were using information provided by tens of thousands of people who registered to vote in the independence referendum to collect "ancient" debts.

The tax, officially called the Community Charge, was introduced by Margaret Thatcher when she was Prime Minister.

It proved hugely unpopular, resulting in protests and a widespread non-payment campaign.

But today, Alex Salmond announced new legislation will stop councils from taking further action to recover Poll Tax debts.

"It is, of course, within the law for councils to use current legislation to assess current council tax liability, and given the current council tax reduction scheme protects 500,000 of our poorest citizens, the tax is being applied in a proper and fair way.

"However, the relevance of information from the current electoral register to the position of debts from 25 years ago is difficult to fathom, except through some misguided political intention."

Alex Salmond says Scotland is a "better nation" as a result of the independence referendum. The First Minister returned to Holyrood today for the first time since Scots voted to stay in the UK last week.

Party leaders all praised the way the debate was carried out across the country. But fighting continues over what new powers will go to the Scottish Parliament. This from our political reporter, Kathryn Samson.

Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick will open today's proceedings with "time for reflection", a Holyrood slot normally reserved for spiritual or philosophical contributions from religious or secular figureheads.

Mr Salmond's statement will be followed by two days of debate on the future of Scotland, with Labour leader Johann Lamont, Conservative leader Ruth Davidson and Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie expected to open with responses from the Scottish opposition parties.

Scotland voted against independence by a majority of 55% in the referendum on Thursday.